Voluntary work or a holiday with the local people in Ghana through "Meet Africa"
Through our organisation "Meet Africa" you can discover real African life in Ghana. We offer mediation and support for a longer or shorter period to people who want to meet the local population of Northern Ghana and their culture. You can work as a volunteer at a project; see Volunteering. It is also possible to spend your holidays with a local family in a traditional village; Ecotourism.
The aim of "Meet Africa" is:
On the one hand to stimulate and facilitate contact, knowledge, understanding, and friendship between people of different cultural backgrounds so that mutual misunderstanding, prejudice and discrimination can be cut across.
On the other hand to offer the poorer local people an extra income.
If you are interested in other cultures and want to get to know them from the inside, you are most welcome to "Meet Africa".
What makes us special?
- We are a small and therefore flexible and personal organization. Our aim is to help people who like to personally get in touch with a completely different culture. By mutual agreement we decide where you want to live and work, so that you know exactly what you are at before you subscribe to a project! You can also determine how long you want to stay (from a few days until a year). However, a condition for voluntary work is a minimum stay of two months.
- We are not a big commercial company and therefore our rates are relatively low.
- We pay a considerable amount of attention to the preparation of the volunteers. For instance, before you leave for Ghana with us, you will receive a lot of information about the culture, customs and way of life of the local population, as well as practical information to simplify your preparations for your journey. In the Netherlands you will have a contact person whom you can always consult, both before your departure and during your stay in Ghana.
- The assistance we offer in Ghana is very personal and extensive. Thus you will soon feel at ease and will always have the possibility to ask for information or request help.
- Our contacts in Ghana are not only city people but also people from the villages who have received little or no official schooling or/and whose life is rather traditional. Therefore it is possible to get in touch with traditional knowledge to which we, as western people, normally do not have access. Also, the larger part of the money paid for board and lodging will go to a poorer part of the population.
- It is possible to start work in Tamale, but more and more we aim our efforts at the villages around Tamale and Bolgatanga, because there are already quite a lot of white voluntary workers in Tamale. In the villages there is more need of volunteers. Moreover, you will integrate more easily when there are not too many other white people in the neighbourhood (however, you are always at biking distance from a number of other "Meet Africa" volunteers).
- Our starting point is that Western people can learn from African culture. Therefore we do not send people to "help" the local population, but we send them to get in touch with a very special culture. You can join in certain activities and make yourself useful in that way. Its main aim is to get into closer contact with the local population.
- "Meet Africa" gives part of its income to the "Meet Africa" fund, through which projects for a number of socially underprivileged groups are financed. During the past year this amounted to more than 11% of our total income. Would you like to support the fund? We highly appreciate it if you, your family and/or friends would make an extra donation.
Why Northern Ghana?
During your stay in Ghana you will be deeply involved in a new culture and thus you will get a practically unbelievable experience that you will profit from for the rest of your life! Ghana is the friendliest and safest country in Africa and, moreover, all schooled persons speak English. Traditional West-African culture is highly fascinating and still very much alive, especially in the north of Ghana. For instance, in this region most villages still consist of round, clay, thatched-roofed huts without electricity. Traditional healthcare and religion are still practised and festivals and celebrations are accompanied by talking drums.